Can shaving cream help a sunburn?

A woman in Texas recently posted photos of a shaving cream hack that can supposedly CURE a sunburn. The photos have been making the rounds on Facebook for the past week. And the hack is pretty simple.

You just take menthol shaving cream . . . smear it on your sunburn . . . and wait 30 minutes before rinsing it off. That’s it. You just have to use MENTHOL shaving cream. And it supposedly helps your sunburn heal faster.

So, does it really work? Well, apparently the answer is . . . yes and no.

A professor of dermatology at Wake Forest talked to Health.com. And despite some of the claims we’ve seen online, it won’t magically CURE a sunburn. But it might help with the pain, and help it heal a little faster.

The #1 ingredient is water, which helps hydrate your skin. And there’s usually palm oil or coconut oil in there too, which helps repair it. So in essence, it does the same thing as aloe.

But the menthol also creates a COOLING effect that can help with the pain.

In other words, it’s a good substitute if you don’t have any aloe sitting around. And you might even like it better. Just don’t expect it to magically cure your sunburn overnight.

The before-and-after photos that went viral make it LOOK like the woman’s sunburn faded away in 30 minutes. But they were actually taken three days apart. So it could have faded even without the shaving cream. (Health)